The man behind the life-saving HPV vaccine on the value of awards

He was one of the creators of the breakthrough human papillomavirus (HPV) vaccine, but Professor Ian Frazer said it was only when he received his first award for the research that his family understood the importance of his work.

"It was a significant thing for my family because they kind of knew I was a scientist but it makes it much more obvious to them that the science I've been involved with has had some impact," Professor Frazer said.

Professor Ian Frazer received a Prime Minister's Prize for Science in 2008 for his work on the HPV vaccine.

The award was part of the Prime Minister’s Prizes for Science – which is celebrating its 20th year in 2019 – honouring outstanding achievements by Australians in different scientific fields.

Professor Frazer received his award in 2008 after the vaccine, which protects against the virus that causes cervical cancer, was first developed.

Advertisement

Since then he has received multiple accolades, including numerous other prizes, as well as being honoured as Australian of the Year, and his three children have been inspired to follow him into medicine as well.

Loading

“They had all decided they weren’t going to be in the medical space, but now all three of them are doctors,” he said.

“One is a medical physician, one is a general physician and one is training in the field of infectious diseases epidemiology.”

Inspiring his children to follow careers in medicine is something Professor Frazer is proud of, but he also wants to inspire the next generation of researchers.

Professor Frazer and his team at the University of Queensland developed the HPV vaccine, which is now used around the world.

Twelve years on, Australia is on track to become the first country in the world to eliminate cervical cancer entirely, expected to be in the mid-2030s if the country hits the 95 per cent vaccination level needed for herd immunity, coupled with a comprehensive screening program.

Sophie Weisz, 14, receives the HPV vaccine in 2006 as part of Australia's march towards 95 per cent herd immunity. Credit:Peter Rae

Professor Frazer said translational research of the kind that led to the vaccine needed to be supported to ensure similar breakthroughs happened for other diseases.

“Subsequent awards – some have also been given to people who have done translational research – I think that really does send a clear message, and it has an impact on the way that funding is given out as well,” he said.

“I think equally importantly, people are beginning to realise they will have a chance of getting research funding for motivational aspects of the research.”

Loading

Far from spending long days in the lab, Professor Frazer said these days he was happy to mentor the younger members of his team to make those breakthroughs themselves.

One of the main focuses for the team at the University of Queensland’s Translational Research Institute is looking into how bacteria on your skin may be linked to whether you develop non-melanoma skin cancers.

Professor Frazer, meanwhile, has continued to advocate for the HPV vaccination in countries around the world, focusing at the moment on Vanuatu, where cervical cancer is the biggest cause of death for women.

Despite his own fields of expertise, he said the area of research with the most potential for growth was mental health.

“If I were choosing to put a large amount of money for the future, I would put it into mental health, because that is the big unknown problem,” he said.

“At the moment we don’t really know how the brain works, so we really need to do more work there, because mental health is going to be the biggest challenge of the 21st century.”

The 2019 Prime Minister’s Prizes for Science will be announced on Wednesday, October 16 at Parliament House in Canberra.